26/12/2024
FTS 8.30
*Russia: govt. describes as “theft” U.S. transfer of frozen assets to Ukraine
*Haiti: death toll of weekend massacre raises to 207
FTS 8.30
*Russia: govt. describes as “theft” U.S. transfer of frozen assets to Ukraine
*Haiti: death toll of weekend massacre raises to 207
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NewsTranscript
00:00The Israeli troops killed five Palestinian journalists early Thursday morning in Al Arwa
00:17Hospital located in the Nusrat refugee camp in Palestine.
00:24The Russian government has described as theft the transfer of $1 billion by the United States
00:29to Ukraine from Russian assets frozen almost three years ago in the West.
00:38And in Haiti, the United Nations Integrated Office released a report on the massacre that
00:42took place over the weekend of December 7th and 9th in the country, raising the death
00:48toll to 207.
00:57Hello and welcome to From the South.
00:59My name is Belinda de los Santos.
01:00I'm from the Telescope Studios in Havana, Cuba, where we give you the news.
01:20And the Israeli troops killed five Palestinian journalists early Thursday morning at the
01:25Al Arwa Hospital located in the Nusrat refugee camp.
01:29Faisal Abubkomsam, Amoum Al Ayadi, Ibrahim Seyhali, Fadi Hassouna and Mahmoud Allada
01:35were journalists of the Al Quds television channel from where the massacre was confirmed.
01:41According to the Palestinian media, the mobile unit was hit while the reporters were carrying
01:46out informative work.
01:48The attack has caused damage to the hospital and one of the doctors was seriously wounded
01:54in the midst of the heavy explosion.
01:56The genocidal troops once again justified these war crimes by linking the victims to
02:02the Palestinian resistance.
02:08We continue in Palestine, as in just 48 hours, four babies have died in southern Gaza due
02:14to the low temperatures and the poor shelter conditions imposed by the genocidal Israeli
02:19government.
02:20The death toll has been confirmed by doctors treating the population of the al-Mawassi
02:24refugee camp.
02:26The latest victim was reported by the General Director of the Gaza Health Minister, Dr.
02:31Mounir al-Bush, who had previously informed on the passing of other three babies, two
02:37of whom were less than a week old and one who was a month old.
02:42Al-Mawassi, located along the Gaza coast in the Rafah governorate, is designated as a
02:48safe zone, according to Zionists.
02:50However, there is no fuel or protection for the winter season and the arrival of humanitarian
02:57aid is slow and scarce.
03:04And now we move on to other topics.
03:05In Afghanistan, at least 46 people were killed in an airstrike carried out by the Pakistani
03:11army in the Afghan province of Batikha.
03:14The incident, which also left six people wounded, has intensified tensions between
03:19the two neighbouring countries.
03:21In this regard, the Afghan government qualified the attacks as a flagrant act of aggression
03:26and has assured that it will respond to this action.
03:30For its part, Pakistan asserted that the target of the bombings was a camp of the insurgent
03:35group Tariq al-Tariban Pakistan on Afghan soil, who days earlier claimed responsibility
03:42for an attack in southern Pakistan that left 16 members of the security forces dead.
03:53And in other news on Thursday, Japan Airlines HAL reported on cyberattacks that caused delays
03:58to domestic and international flights.
04:01The airline, which is the country's second largest, said that 24 domestic flights were
04:07delayed by more than half an hour due to a network disruption that began at 7.24 a.m.
04:15on Thursday.
04:16After the news broke, the company's shares fell as much as 2.5% in morning trading before
04:23recovering slightly.
04:24The airline is the latest Japanese company to be hit by a cyberattack.
04:29This type of breach in security was also experienced in June by popular Japanese video sharing
04:35site Nikoniko.
04:36In addition, in 2023, both Japan's space agency and one of the country's busiest ports
04:43were hit by a ransomware attack as well.
04:50And we go now to Mozambique, as authorities confirmed that over 1,500 prisoners have escaped
04:57from Maputo prison after a riot that left 33 people dead.
05:01The riot took place in a maximum security penitentiary in the province of Maputo in
05:06Matola.
05:07The General Commander of the Police of the Republic, Bernardino Rafael, declared that
05:12a group of demonstrators approached the facility, making noise and demanding the release of
05:18the prisoners.
05:19The agitation caused disturbances that provoked the collapse of a wall and the prisoners took
05:24advantage of the moment to escape through the doors.
05:27Rafael warned that in the next 48 hours, a sharp increase in crime is expected in the
05:33city of Maputo and also called on all of the society to unite to fight crime in the country.
05:43And now we have a short break coming up.
05:44But first, remember you can join us on TikTok at Telus or English, where you will find news
05:48in different formats, news updates and much more.
05:52Stay with us.
05:57Welcome back to From the South.
06:14The Russian government has described the transfer of $1 billion by the United States to Ukraine
06:20from Russian assets frozen almost three years ago as a theft.
06:24The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, warned that these illegal actions could trigger
06:29future legal proceedings by the Russian government.
06:32He also added that the freezing of the assets is illegal.
06:35Peskov made these statements shortly after Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denis Shmygol, announced
06:41that his country had received the first billion dollars from frozen Russian assets.
06:46Let's remember that shortly after the beginning of the Russian special military operation
06:50in Ukraine, the United States and its European allies confiscated or froze approximately
06:56$300 billion in Russian financial assets.
07:06And meanwhile, Russia's Federal Security Service confirmed that it prevented a series of Ukrainian
07:11terrorist attacks targeting high-ranking military officers.
07:14One of the attacks was aimed at a senior official of the Ministry of Defense.
07:19The bomber was a Russian citizen from Ukraine who would have arrived via Moldova.
07:25Other attacks were planned to be delivered to the officers as envelope bombs to be detonated
07:30from Ukraine as soon as the targets were safe.
07:33The Russian authorities confirmed at least four detainees, all of them with Russian citizenship
07:39who provided work and residence address of senior military commanders.
07:50And in Georgia, the parliamentary leadership decided to raise the security level to yellow
07:54for the inauguration of President-elect Mikhail Kavelyashvili.
07:58The legislature specified that the representatives of the mass media will have to apply to the
08:04parliament for special accreditation.
08:07In this regard, the yellow security level will be enforced at the Georgia's parliamentary
08:12palace, to which visitors will be restricted from entering.
08:17It should be noted that this measure is part of the preparations for the inauguration of
08:21the President-elect to be held on December 29th.
08:41We now move on to other topics.
08:42In Bosnia and Herzegovina, authorities have declared a natural disaster in several part
08:47of the country following heavy snowfall that has caused road blockages.
08:51According to local media, all houses in the city of Knisevo are without electricity and
08:57all access roads are blocked by a thick layer of snow which in some places exceeds 100 centimeters.
09:05They also noted that several dozen Bosnian towns and villages have been cut off by the
09:09snowstorm with many vehicles stuck on the roads, which have quickly become impassable
09:15since the storm began.
09:17So far, rescue teams together with local NGOs reported that they have rescued about 100
09:22people, including women and children, who have been trapped for hours in about 50 cars
09:27in the town of Troce, located in the northwest of the country.
09:36And on Wednesday, 19 people trapped up in a mountain in Italy due to heavy snowfall
09:40finally made their way down.
09:43The group included 11 Alpine rescuers who had been deployed on Monday to assist two
09:48Italian climbers who had been trapped at 2,700 meters on Grenzazzo, the highest peak in the
09:55range.
09:56The rescuers were stranded at around 2,100 meters and forced by worsening weather conditions,
10:03the team took shelter in the Campo Imperatore Mountain Hotel until a break in the weather
10:08on Wednesday allowed the cable car to be reopened and all 19 people to descend safely
10:14to the valley.
10:15The Alpine Rescue Service said that the search for the missing climbers would resume when
10:20weather conditions improve, but did not specify when they last communicated with the two missing
10:25climbers, whose condition is still unknown.
10:34And Donald Trump, President-elect of the United States, announced on Wednesday that Kevin
10:38Marino Cabrera, current Miami-Dade County Commissioner, will be appointed as his ambassador
10:43to Panama.
10:44In the middle of the announcement, the Republican again insisted that the Central American country
10:48swindles the United States in its canal and used his social network Truth Social to send
10:55a message in which he suggests that the Panamanian Canal works with Chinese soldiers as operators.
11:02For his part, Marino Cabrera said he was very honored to assume this new position.
11:07And Trump also highlighted his performance as a commissioner in Florida.
11:16And we stay in the United States as New York's holiday mood was dampened on Wednesday after
11:21a cab rammed into a crowd of pedestrians in the middle of downtown Manhattan.
11:26The accident occurred due to an alleged medical episode of the driver, who apparently lost
11:31control, crashing the car against the sidewalk.
11:34The accident left seven people injured, including a nine-year-old boy who suffered head injuries
11:40as well as two 49-year-old women and four other women between the ages of 19 and 41.
11:48The New York Police Department said that three of the seriously injured people were taken
11:52to nearby health centers for medical attention.
12:01And also in the U.S., President Joe Biden signed a law in April that would block TikTok
12:06in the country under accusations of espionage.
12:08But the owners of the well-known app filed a legal dispute that is about to come to an
12:13end.
12:14Our correspondent, Henrique Cabello, with the details.
12:18The countdown to the U.S. ban on the TikTok platform is already underway.
12:23The reasons, an apparent danger to national security.
12:30Some Republican members have joined that Democrat effort to somehow, number one, shut down the
12:36platform or eliminate it entirely from the United States of America, or number two, force
12:41its owners to sell it and have it bought out, to be bought by purely American capital.
12:47However, the strategy of the company ByteDance, owner of TikTok with Chinese shares, would
12:56be to appeal to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, that is, to the right of
13:00its citizens to free speech, something that users of this platform believe would be hindering
13:05them from being eliminated.
13:07In the sense of watching, of seeing the news, which is what is trending, while one says
13:15they are restricting my freedom, my freedom to communicate, my freedom to inform myself.
13:25According to experts, behind the attempted elimination or sale of TikTok would be the
13:29fall in popularity of Facebook, since, according to a report by We Are Social, this application
13:35would have had a loss of users of 89 million accounts in the last year and Instagram of
13:40about 54 million, respectively.
13:46Obviously, TikTok's booty is very appetizing.
13:51We are talking about a company that has grown a lot in just a few years, becoming the preferred
13:56platform of the young Generation Z and also of some millennials.
14:01In fact, it has replaced in that demographic sector the Instagram platform that belongs
14:06to Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta.
14:15The company ByteDance, owner of TikTok, has said that if it were to sell the application,
14:20it would be without the ultra-addictive algorithm, which makes young people not stop using the
14:24app under these conditions.
14:26It is estimated that the price of TikTok would be around $35 billion.
14:30However, Mark Zuckerberg would not be able to participate in the purchase of TikTok due
14:35to a conflict of interest.
14:39At the end of the day, what they want is control and power.
14:48And if they manage to eliminate TikTok, and if they manage to acquire TikTok, literally
14:53confiscated from its legitimate and original owners, they will be getting away with it.
14:59The possible closure of TikTok would affect some 170 million users, many of whom generate
15:07their livelihoods through the app.
15:09The Supreme Court is expected to issue a final decision on January 19th.
15:25And now we have a second short break coming up, but before we invite you to visit our
15:29YouTube channel at Telesur English.
15:31There you will be able to re-watch our interviews, top stories, special broadcastings and more.
15:36Hit the subscribe button and activate the notification bell to stay up to date on the
15:39world's most recent events.
15:41Final short break, don't go away.
16:01Welcome back to From the South.
16:03In Haiti, the United Nations Integrated Office released a report on the massacre that took
16:08place over the weekend of December 7th to the 9th in the country, reaching the death
16:12toll to 207.
16:14The events took place in the capital's Sidesole neighborhood.
16:18Members of the criminal group led by Manel Félix, aka Mikano, executed 134 men and 73
16:27women with guns and machetes.
16:29They accused them of witchcraft practices that allegedly caused the death of Mikano's
16:35son.
16:36Maria Isabel Salvador, representative of the UN Secretary General in Haiti, said in presenting
16:41the report that the events were of an unprecedented gravity.
16:45She also urged the Haitian justice system to carry out a thorough investigation and
16:50not to pretend that nothing has happened.
16:58We go now to Argentina, as according to the latest report of the Attorney General's Office
17:03for Crimes Against Humanity, during the year of Javier Milet's presidency, only 14 sentences
17:09were handed down in crimes against humanity, the lowest number in the last 10 years.
17:14Federal Prosecutor María Ángel Ramos, in charge of the report, stated that since the
17:19year 2006, when the trials for crimes against humanity were reactivated, 1,195 perpetrators
17:27were convicted.
17:28The trials aimed to hold military officials accountable for their participation in the
17:33disappearance and torture of civilians during the country's last civic military dictatorship.
17:38However, in 2024, only 20 people were convicted and 12 were acquitted.
17:45Experts point out that the low production of sentences coincides with the coming to
17:50power of a government that denies the crimes of the dictatorship and justifies the crimes
17:56of the repressors.
18:02And in Ecuador, the relatives of the four minors who disappeared in a forced manner
18:07in Guayaquil came to provide data for forensic comparison.
18:11The findings of four corpses in the area of Taura, in the province of Guayas, has required
18:17the families to provide data to carry out anthropological examinations.
18:21These bodies were found in the same area where the children were illegally transferred
18:26by military personnel in an operation that was part of President Daniel Nuboa's plans
18:31to combat crime.
18:33The Ecuadorian government is being strongly questioned for trying to hide the operation
18:39and for repeated human rights violations.
18:46And in Suriname, the government announced that the former president, the Sibutser, passed
18:51away at the age of 79 and the causes of death are still unknown.
18:55Through a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that the news of the death
19:00was learned by the family and governmental inquiries.
19:04For his part, the head of state, Chan Santoki, offered condolences on behalf of his cabinet
19:10to the wife, children and the rest of the relatives of the former president and added
19:15that the government is waiting for more detailed information.
19:19Sibutser governed from 1980 to 1987 and then in 2010 he won the presidential elections
19:26to remain at the helm of Suriname until 2020, when he officially retired from politics.
19:33An Indian authority is prepared for 400 million pilgrims during the six-week-long Kumbh Mela.
19:52The makeshift city is being built for a festival that is expected to be so big it will be visible
19:59from space, the largest congregation in history.
20:02The Kumbh Mela is an ancient festival with its origins rooted in Hindu mythology.
20:08This edition, from January 13th to February 26th, is expected to be a mega-draw coinciding
20:15with a particular alignment of the planets.
20:18Around 150,000 toilets have been built, 68,000 LED light poles erected and community kitchens
20:25that can feed up to 50,000 people.
20:28The last Kumbh Mela in 2019 gathered 240 million devotees.
20:40Nowhere in the world will you see a gathering of this size.
20:42What makes this event unique is its magnitude and the fact that no invitations are sent
20:47to anybody.
20:56Everyone comes on their own, driven by pure faith.
20:59People in huge numbers come here to bathe and this is a very unique aspect of the festival.
21:10A city is being built here.
21:12We are expecting 350 to 400 million devotees to visit the Mela, so you can imagine the
21:18scale of preparations.
21:21Preparations for the fair started 2.5 years ago, during which the infrastructure of the
21:26city had to be strengthened.
21:30And like this, we have come to the end of this news brief.
21:33You can find these and many other stories on our website at telusorenglish.net.
21:37And also join us on social media, we are on Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and also
21:42on TikTok.
21:43For Telusore English, my name is Belen de los Santos, thank you for watching.